That Translator Can Cook: Fried Kibbeh
A ground meat filling seasoned with onions and seven spice blend, wrapped and fried in a crust made from ground bulgur and meat.
Kibbeh is delicious: crunchy yet juicy finger food that has a meat crust and a meat filling. This recipe is a very popular version, but there are many ways to make kibbeh. There are also many ways to say ‘كبة’ depending on where you’re from: kibbeh, kibbe, kebbah, kubbeh, kubbah or kubbi.
Apparently, kibbeh derives from a delicacy called ‘gubibate’ enjoyed by the King of Assyria in 9th century BCE.
Image Source: Taste of Beirut
The traditional way to make kibbeh is to vigorously pound the meat and bulgur together with a large mortar and pestle, some made of solid rock and weighing up to 100 pounds. Nowadays, people tend to use machines (meat grinder/food processor), and there are even kibbeh-making machines that can form the paste (for the crust) into hollow ball ready to be stuffed. However, experts say that a machine can’t produce the same results as the traditional mortar and pestle; a food processor does not extricate the silverskins from the meat, it processes indiscriminately.
For vegetarians/vegans, there are some who make kibbeh with potatoes or with pumpkin.
Here’s how to make delicious fried kibbeh; the pictures and the recipe belong to SoSo.
Ingredients
Dough
250-g piece of boneless (lean) meat (beef or lamb)
1/2 kilo of fine brown bulgur
1 onion
Some basil leaves
Salt
A dash of black pepper
A dash of cumin
Filling
1/2 kilo of ground meat (beef or lamb)
1 onion, finely minced
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil or ghee
Salt
Spices (cumin, paprika, seven spice blend)
Black pepper
Steps
For preparing the filling: sauté the minced onion with ghee in a pot until it softens. Add the meat and stir until it’s brown all the way through and the water has evaporated. Add the spices, salt, and pepper, then mix well. Take the pot off the burner and set it aside to cool.
For preparing the dough: Wash the bulgur and soak it hot water for four hours, then grind it up in a kibbeh machine with the (uncooked) meat, the other onion, and basil two times. Then, add the cumin, pepper, and salt to the mixture and blend well until it becomes a dough.
Next, start to form the kibbeh. Take a small ball of dough and create a thin shape with an opening like the one shown in the picture, then stuff it (of course, I made them as thin as my mother’s as well as I could; it’s my first time trying).
Close them so that they become this shape.
Continue to form more kibbeh until the dough/filling is used up.
Then, deep-fry them until they turn golden brown, then lift them out of the oil. Strain the kibbeh and really let the oil drain out. Place the kibbeh on a serving platter.
Translators’ Discussion:
I learned a new word: هبرة, which means a piece/cut of boneless (lean) meat. It’s a lot of meaning packed into one word. I tried finding the origin of it, but I couldn’t. Do any of you know where this word comes from?
سمنة means obesity in Modern Standard, but I find that it is used to refer to ghee, although I suppose lard or the like could also work. What is you’re experience with سمنة (at least in a cooking context)?
In step 6, I translated “تقليهم بزيت غزير وحامي” as “deep-fry them.” What do you think of this phrasing? Would you do something differently?